Tennis Racket Reapir By Electre.co.uk - Is This Safe To Use? *Pictures*

R

racketluke

New User
Hi,

I recently broken the throad of my babolat pure drive roddick gt plus. This is quite a costly racket to me, so I decided to get it repaired rather than buy a brand new one.

After reading about electre.co.uk, and seeing the picture on their website of a 'before and after' of a broken racket, the results looked great.

I was shocked when I received my racket back to how poor the results really were. It even appears to still have a small little hole in the repair. The overall finish is poor too.

I am a player which struggles with tennis elbow a bit, so I have to be extra careful when using a racket. I'm worried about whether or not this is safe to use bareing in mind my elbow problems.

What do you think?

First 2 pictures are before, next pictures are after.

http://s1168.photobucket.com/albums/r482/LukeAxten/

Thank you
 
G

gully

Professional
Wow. Never heard of "racket repair" like this before. But apparently, this is what it looks like.

Since you asked, I'd look for an inexpensive, flexible frame to play with. Use TW's racketfinder, it'll let you search for stiffness (say, under 60) and price. TW also sells used rackets now. PDR is known to be ultra-stiff, not too easy on the arm.

Unfortunately, you got taken by the racket doctor.
 
R

racketluke

New User
so what do you think to the quality of the repair? Would you be annoyed like I am? I've complained but little I can do about it really.. no offer of a refund or anything
 
C

colan5934

Professional
Seems to me like even if it is fixed, which I doubt it is, it won't hold up for long. Sorry to say, but it looks like you got scammed.
 
coolblue123

coolblue123

Hall of Fame
graphite inherently is very brittle. I believe once it's broken, it's almost impossible to repair to the inital stress strength. In other words, it's very likely to break again and wouldn't feel right.
 
R

racketluke

New User
i'm suprised they even sent it back to me like that. I would be embarrassed by the quality of the repair. Lesson learnt!
 
OldFedIsOld

OldFedIsOld

Professional
DSCF8062.jpg


This looks like it was only patched up with I think fiberglass patching and then spray painted with a cheap blue spray paint. This will not hold up for very long, try to get a refund.

Edit: Maybe it's epoxy.
 
R

racketluke

New User
It probably looks worse up close than in the pictures. I don't think they'll offer me a refund, but its worth asking I suppose.
 
C

colan5934

Professional
Looks like you might actually be in the clear here. Well, at least for three months. A hit with it might be justified.
 
R

racketluke

New User
I've asked for a refund but hes not issuing one. Pretty much been scammed.

DO NOT USE ELECTRE.CO.UK FOR RACKET REPAIRS - THEY ARE A SCAM - POOR QUALITY - BAD REPAIRS - AVOID

Thats all I can say. The pictures speak for themselves.
 
R

racketluke

New User
Before:
LukeAxten

After:
LukeAxten


Avoid electre.co.uk

To quote the website..

"most customers cannot tell where the frame repair has been done so if you break a racket send it to us for a quality frame repair."

If you can't tell where thats been done then you must be blind!
 
R

racketluke

New User
Paul Kennedy has refunded me now.

He accepted that this is not to the usual standard of his repairs and refunded the money. Just waiting for the refund to come through.

Its not all bad I suppose!
 
G

gramdacious

Rookie
well at least he is intending to make the situation right again. A lot of people would have told the customer to go pound sand especially if they aren't speaking face to face. This is assuming he will indeed refund you the money.
 
T

Torres

Banned
I have to say that I don't know why the OP is giving this repairer a hard time. With a crack that bad, the best you can hope for is that any repair is just going to hold the racquet together and that the head doesn't fly off when you take a swing at the ball. The Babs are also known to be a bit weak around the Cortex area particuarly if you've dropped them several times.

£20 is not that much for a 'Band Aid' type repair. In those circumstances, its never going to look great cosmetically, but if you want it to look great cosmetically, buy a new racquet or try to do the repair yourself with some epoxy and fibreglass material.

At the end of the day, the racquet is damaged, and its never going to be as good as it once was.
 
Last edited:
gonzalocatalino

gonzalocatalino

Hall of Fame
In Argentina, racquet repair is quite common: racquets are expensive here.
I´ve played a few times with "repaired" racquets, they played horrible.
I´ve the chance to talk with one guy who repair frames since 1980 here. He told me that is easier to fix older graphite frames, wich are heavier and constructed with ticker graphite structures. The new generations of thin and hollow racquets are very hard to fix, the weight and balance change DRAMATICALLy, because is more material is needed to repair and fill the frame.
Also, he told me that a racquet cracked at any place near the throat, is useless (beacuse thats the spot who receives the highest levels of torsion). A crack at the top would be easier to fix, but the weight and balance changes to much (a fiber/graphite patch could add 20grs at that small spot)...
IMO, a fixed frame could be used for a recreational player, eventally, but thats all...
 
Last edited:
T

thejackal

Hall of Fame
gonzalocatalino said:
In Argentina, racquet repair is quite common: racquets are expensive here.
I´ve played a few times with "repaired" racquets, they played horrible.
I´ve the chance to talk with one guy who repair frames since 1980 here. He told me that is easy to fix older graphite frames, with are heavier and thick. The new generations of thin and hollow racquets are very hard to fix, the weight and balance change DRAMATICALLy.
Also, he told me that a racquet cracked at any place near the throat, is useless (thats the spot who receives the highest levels of torsion). A crack at the top would be easier to fix, but the weight and balance changes to much (a fiber/graphite patch could add 20grs at that small spot)...
IMO, a fixed frame could be used for a recreational player, eventally, but thats all...
Click to expand...

good post with solid info.

pretty much in line with my experiences with repaired graphite hockey sticks. it does work, but you lose a lot of the feel and the balance of the stick.
 
alidisperanza

alidisperanza

Hall of Fame
This thread gives me the willies :( Cracked is cracked and unfortunately will never play the same


PS. Welcome back Torres
 
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